The IRS Scandal Rolls On

Despite the press’s best efforts to cover it up–the IRS harassed liberals, too!–problems at the IRS continue to come to light. The Inspector General has reported that some of the agency’s 5,000 credit cards have been used to make inappropriate purchases, like on-line porn and $100 lunches. A more serious development is that another IRS official has taken the Fifth rather than answers questions from a Congressional committee.

The latest IRS employee to refuse to answer questions is Greg Roseman, who was involved in procurement for the agency. Roseman allegedly exercised improper influence to swing $500 million in IRS contracts to a fledgling company owned by a friend. Normally you would reserve judgment on that sort of claim, but when a public official pleads the Fifth, there presumably is fire to go with the smoke:

Someone–if I could remember who, I would give him credit–pointed out recently that the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination was intended to provide citizens with protection against an overbearing government. But in the Age of Obama, it is being used as an easy way for government officials to say “screw you” to the rest of us–i.e., their employers. In this particular instance, however, the official in question could be in real trouble: it has been reported that his texts with the friend to whom he directed $500 million in business “contained homophobic slurs.” He’s in trouble now!